Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Acrylic on canvas and cardboard. 2006.
Signature: TOLTS 06. / Andres Tolts “Tallinn“ 2006 49.7 x 34.7. akrüül/lõuendkartongil

“There is no need to panic and modernize your environment. Often, preservation is much more important than trying to change it,” said Andres Tolts (1949-2014), a master of Estonian pop art, in an interview recorded in 1985 with Heinz Valk (“Painter Andres Tolts”, ERR).

21 years later, he painted “Tallinn” in which he placed an iconic cityscape on a pedestal and framed it with a marbled painting surface – as if as a symbolic sign of eternal values. Tolts knew very well how productive working with everyday components could be as he always had a weakness for beauty.

Thus, he places a tempting apple on the table in front of a painting on the wall, as if referring to the famous apple paintings of the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. However, in Tolts’ case, it does not play such a central element. Rather, he builds a multi-layered landscape, dotted with a golden frame with which he maintains his own ironic dialogue with the 17th century ideal landscape painters Poussin and Lorrain whose images were always surrounded by golden frames.

Text: Katre Palm, Harry Liivrand